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Archaeologist of the Future Present: Mark Dery’s Visions of American Dread, American Dreams

By
Matthew Newton

The Verge

April 23, 2012

One of the linchpins of your latest book is the idea that, in America, chaos has become commonplace—a point that you illuminate from a different angle in each chapter. I'm curious, though: just as national politics have veered further to the right over the last 50 years, what do you imagine "normal" American life will look like in the not-so-distant future?

I never know quite how to answer this sort of question, which seems to require a cross between Carnac-the-Magnificent mentalism and neo-Marxist Jeremiad in the Mike Davis mode.

Truth to tell, I’m uncomfortable in the visionary role. I think of myself as an archaeologist of the future present, excavating the last five minutes. (In his introduction to the book, Bruce Sterling calls me the guy "who predicted the past." I like that.)